The Presidents Cup continues on Friday with four-ball at Quail Hollow Club. The heavily favored United States team took a 4-1 lead on Thursday with a dominant foursomes performance.
The Internationals managed to steal a point as Si Woo Kim and Cam Davis erased a two-down deficit after 14 holes by winning the final four holes of the match to win two-up.
The final match of the day between Max Homa and Tony Finau of the United States and Taylor Pendrith and Mito Pereira of the Internationals came down to the final hole. Pereira hit a wayward drive off the tee which gave the United States an advantage. The USA made par, but Pendrith missed a putt to tie the match from about 10 feet as the USA won the last match in dramatic fashion.
Our analysts break down their best bets for Friday’s Presidents Cup action below. Will the USA extend its lead, or will the Internationals mount a comeback with a more favorable Friday format?
2022 Presidents Cup Picks
Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns (-150) Over Sungjae Im and Sebastian Munoz (DraftKings)
Jason Sobel: While speaking with Davis Love III for a minute after the pairings were announced, I got the sense that his toughest decision was whether to break up Scheffler and Burns after their Thursday loss or keep them together.
Meanwhile, Im and Munoz feel like just one of those pairings that winds up happening each time for the International side – a pair of very good players who have little in common and struggle to maintain the same camaraderie as the pair of best friends on the other side of the tee box.
Did Scheffler and Burns play poorly in the opening session or just finish poorly? I’d argue the latter, which doesn’t make it any more palatable, but they won five of the first 14 holes only to lose the final four. I think they’ll reward Love for his decision in this one.
Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele (-165) Over Hideki Matsuyama and Tom Kim (DraftKings, tie is a push)
Chris Murphy: Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele have become an absolute force to be reckoned with as they carried their play from the team win at the Zurich Classic over to this Presidents Cup during the opening day. They blitzed Matsuyama and Adam Scott 6&5 in the alternate shot format and now get to match up with Matsuyama once again.
Young star Tom Kim will be alongside the International veteran, but it is likely to be a learning experience for the twenty-year-old as there is no reason to expect this American pair to slow their roll. I'm actually a bit surprised by these odds as I think the books could have stretched this out quite a bit further and still garnered plenty of action on the Americans.
I'll take what I see as some value and ride this hot team, especially since I don't think this is the most imposing opposition.
Adam Scott and Cameron Davis (+165) Over Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth (BetRivers)
Matt Vincenzi: I didn’t find the pairing of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth to be incredibly impressive in their foursomes victory on Thursday. Spieth had a pretty rough day overall, and Thomas really picked him up with some clutch putts near the end of the match.
Additionally, I really like the Australians in the four-ball format. Both golfers make plenty of birdies and should get away with the occasional errant shot with their partner picking them up.
We are getting a ton of value on Adam Scott and Cam Davis in this matchup against what I believe is one of the U.S. team’s few weak spots in Spieth.
Adam Scott and Cameron Davis +165 Over Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas (BetRivers)
Spencer Aguiar: After laying the -195 juice yesterday on the USA to lead after day one, I've decided not to reconstruct the conservative route again during four-ball action. There are likely a few spots where we can aggressively lay the juice if we believe the USA is going to stay hot, and I don't dislike grabbing a tandem such as Scheffler/Burns on DraftKings at -150 and expecting them to bounce back.
Let's instead pivot to the International value and go with the Aussie duo of Adam Scott and Cameron Davis at +165 on BetRivers.
When we dive a little deeper into this matchup, a few green flags surface with how I ran my model. For starters, Scott/Davis graded as the top overall unit on Friday for projected proximity, a category that should help propel each golfer to extra individual opportunities, and it is that partnership mentality that might overcome the one-sided output totals in my sheet for the Thomas/Spieth team.
Yes, it does help the situation for the Americans that Thomas can play his own ball on every hole, meaning he will have a better direct impact on the outcome.
However, with the Aussie connection both eclipsing Spieth in four of the eight critical metrics I ran in my model and individually seven of eight times, there is a potential that Spieth leaves his partner too much weight on his shoulders to carry again on Friday in four-ball action.
Don't get me wrong, this wager is about as 50/50 as they come, but the 75 points being yielded is nearly as high as I ever generate numerically. Flip a coin for who wins, but you can get 1.65/1 on your money for your troubles. That is a bet I will make every day of the week.
